The egg and water diet had done a good job. I had lost a bunch of weight. The fat was almost all gone. Now I looked too thin. I needed to gain more muscle.

Becoming a bodybuilder was all that mattered to me. I began accumulating my own gym equipment in my basement. I purchased a bench and a set of cast iron weights. Using a set of pulleys, I rigged up a lat machine from the support beams in the ceiling so I could build my back muscles. I worked out at least three times a week.

I plastered my bedroom walls with color posters of Frank Zane, Casey Viator, Boyer Coe, Mike Mentzer and Chris Dickerson. These guys were some of bodybuilding's best.

I first tried marijuana at the age of fifteen. I knew about pot. Some of my classmates had tried it. One Saturday evening I decided to try it myself.

A friend and I were walking along a gravel road. He suggested that we share a joint. "Yeah, I'll try it," I said. 

Using a Bic lighter, he lit up the joint. He took a deep puff and handed it to me. I tried to take a hit. 

"Not that way," he said. "You do it like this." He took a deep toke and pulled the smoke in. 

At first, I didn't feel anything. Just when I began wondering what the big deal was all about, it hit me. I started laughing. Everything seemed funny. I would start to say something and would laugh even harder. The same thing happened to him. We were acting like a couple of big fools.

I liked the way pot got me high, but I only smoked it on rare occasions. I was very serious about my bodybuilding.

One of the muscle magazines contained an ad for The Underground Steroid Handbook, by Dan Duchaine. I had never used steroids, but I read about them in magazine after magazine and wanted to try them. I sent away for the handbook.

Two weeks later it arrived. Duchaine referred to himself as "The Steroid Guru." He claimed to have tested almost every anabolic steroid known to mankind. The handbook pointed out the benefits of using steroids. I was impressed. What he said made sense.

The handbook contained descriptions of the most popular steroids. I was excited about the information it contained and I read every word. 

I was eighteen years old. I had managed to avoid steroids. I had been proud of my ability to train naturally. But now I was ready to experiment with steroids.  

Chapter 5: The Package Arrives